A review by mmccombs
On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel

dark sad slow-paced

4.0

Just completely bleak from the beginning. Every terrible thing that can happen to a person happens in this book and it was pretty brutal to read. I didn’t love Betty but was inspired to read this one because the writing was just stunning. On the Savage Side was no different, and despite the deep sorrow of the book I felt that the writing elevated it and kept me going. I kind of wish that the river pov was used throughout the novel rather than being packed in the beginning, and I did find the twist at the end to be kind of cheesy. Something about the characters didn’t feel super authentic, but I also can’t really speak to the level addiction, poverty, and abuse that influenced these characters’ actions and style of speaking/thinking. I think the last chapter really captured the essence of this novel and made me go “oh, this is what she was going for!” and brought everything together. Ultimately, this felt like a much more together novel than Betty, though I still wished for a bit more cohesiveness at the end.
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